In Thursday, Stephen Jen, the CEO of Eurizon SLJ Capital Limited, said in an interview with Die Welt that since February of 2022, compared to the last fifteen years, the shift away from the US dollar in global trade has increased ten-fold.

The former International Monetary Fund and Morgan Stanley economist noted that the majority of analysts have not noticed the trend because they have been evaluating the nominal value of the dollar holdings of central banks on the basis of official data provided by the IMF.

Jen noted, “However, if we take into account changes in the value of the dollar, then, according to our calculations, we’ll see that the dollar share in foreign reserves has lost about 11% since 2016.”

He said the decisive event was the decision by Washington to seize the dollar reserves of Russia following the launch of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

He explained, “This has fueled fear and anxiety in Beijing, but also in other emerging countries,” adding that until Washington seized Russia’s reserves, holding US dollar reserves had been widely considered absolutely safe.

Jen said that as a result, now the BRICS nations are increasingly focused on developing alternative means of settling cross border trade transactions which do not involve the use of the dollar.

He said that in addition, the economic power of the BRICS alliance was multiplying as the coalition, which presently includes Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, is set to add six new members next year, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia, who will all join the alliance in January of next year.

He said, “Taking purchasing power into account, the BRICS nations currently account for 32% of global economic output, compared to 30% covered by the G7 countries.”